Exclusive Interview with WxK on Filming Process of DIY America Movie Series

Please give a general overview of the W+K studio. Who and what is W+K?

Wieden+Kennedy is an independent advertising agency, with headquarters located in Portland OR, and 7 different offices worldwide. We create the advertising for clients such as Nike, Coke, Levi's, Target, Nokia, Delta, and more.

WKE is Wieden + Kennedy's entertainment division. There are 3 different components to WKE- Branded Content, Original Content, and the WKE channel on wk.com. We are currently developing branded content or branded entertainment for all of our clients and we spend most of our time and energy in the branded area working on our clients business. In the Original content space we are developing commercially viable entertainment projects that are not connected to any of our clients.

At this point on the WKE channel we have chosen not to explore any specific branding opportunities. The channel is still in early development and continuing to evolve. We are looking at it as being a bit of a laboratory or an incubator and keeping it very experimental.

You recently organized a series of short videos exploring graffiti culture, DIY America, featuring interviews with a wide range of relevant artists like ESPO, Earsnot, Craig Stecyk, and more. Why did you decide to create these films?

Relevant artists like these create inspiration for a lot of the work we do- both commercial and none. WKE provides a platform to showcase these artists and the appreciation we have for them. The DIY series lined up with our interests, in terms of creativity and personal expression. It made sense for us to co-produce this series.

How did you organize the artists participating in these film interviews? Did you visit each artist in various locations?

The idea for the DIY series was brought to us by filmmaker, Aaron Rose, who was our Creative Director at the time when we launched WKE online. It’s produced of extra footage and outtakes from Aaron’s film, Beautiful Losers. We worked with the folks at Blacklake productions in L.A., who also produced BL, to use the footage and create an original series for WKE.

Do you plan any more of these films?

After the DIY graffiti segments air, we wrap up the season. We don't have any plans to produce any more DIY segments from the Beautiful Losers film. However, we maybe apply the DIY thinking to another area, such as arts, crafts and design, and do a series on that.

What artists are you excited about now and are watching for the future?

We get excited about artists who are taking risks, doing things their own way, making people think. We’re so fortunate to work in such a creative environment here at W+K, we're exposed to so many unique and talented artists worldwide on a frequent basis. We can't keep up.